


Bright as Fire

by halfthyme



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Canon Universe, Fairy Tale Elements, Firebird, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Partial Mind Control, Telepathic Bond, also i'm a sucker for canon, but only the GOOD part of canon. you know what i mean, look i know it's confusing i promise it'll make sense, sooo the firebird fairy tale is very vague, therefore i just used common elements to make it cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25079395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfthyme/pseuds/halfthyme
Summary: The first thing he notices is that the source of light is a lot smaller than he expected. The second thing he notices is that neither sun is rising, and he scrambles to put the pieces together. When his eyes readjust, he realizes that it’s a bird — a glowing bird, at that. Keith tracks it, bright as fire, as it comes closer and closer, waiting for the right moment…Or, Keith & Lance are paired up on another mission in another strange world far from home. This time, though, they discover scenes out of a fairy tale that inspire them to speak their truth. Based on the fairy tale "The Firebird".
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 30
Collections: Once Upon A Time: A Klance Fairy Tale Zine





	Bright as Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Oh geez it feels like I haven't put anything on AO3 in a while... This piece was written for Once Upon A Time: A Klance Fairy Tale Zine! I had a great time writing this and I'm honored to be included in the zine along with lots of amazing artists and writers. Hope you like my piece!
> 
> (PS: Huge thanks to Nat who beta'd this even though they left the VLD fandom years ago!)

Again and again, like clockwork, the beacon goes off. Another day, another planet, another scramble to figure out where they are and who they’re saving.

The morning starts like any other, with Lance rudely awakened by flashing red lights and the familiar blare of the emergency beacon; it sounds quieter than it did in the early days, after Lance complained about beauty sleep and Shiro backed him up. With minor grumbling, the lanky teen drags himself from his sweet warm bed and pulls on his bodysuit. Pieces fall into place one by one, tired fingers following an old routine.

He leaves with his helmet tucked under one arm, stealing one last look at his room as the door quietly whooshes shut. Down the hall, another door opens as his own closes, revealing a familiar figure shaking out his unnecessarily long hair. Lance pauses, catching his breath as Keith holds a hair tie in his mouth and pulls his hair into a small ponytail.

Keith looks up at a sharp intake of breath that Lance steadfastly denies came from him. The darker-haired boy grins and says, “Morning, Lance.”

Lance smiles back, maybe a little fondly, and replies, “Morning, Mullet. Ready for our next mission from hell?”

Keith scoffs and starts ambling down the hallway to the control deck, “Yeah, right. You call Maxim Regulus hell? Seemed like you were enjoying yourself-”

“Hey, not fair!” Lance sputters, falling into step with his companion. “You had just as much Nunvil as I did.”

“Oh yeah?” Keith smirks. “Not what you were saying then, Mr. ‘Neck-and-Neck’-”

They stroll onto the deck still bickering, Lance punctuating his words with the occasional haphazard gesture. The alarm fades out as they enter. The other paladins are already there and waiting. Shiro looks tired as usual but, Lance notes, somehow more normal than after their last big battle against the Galra. 

He turns his attention to the Alteans for an explanation, and Allura claps her hands together to get everyone’s attention. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why the alarm went off. We received an emergency signal from a nearby planet called Nunda. We have reason to believe that there is a pocket of Galra control there, so be on your guard.” 

The paladins nod, looking around at each other. The mood, while not grim, has lost the casual joy of five minutes ago. He’s just about to turn to Keith and crack a joke when the Castle lands with a distinct rumble and everything goes dark.

Shiro’s voice rings out first. “Don’t panic,” he says somewhat unnecessarily. “Let’s suit up and scout the planet while Coran, Hunk, and Pidge make some repairs.”

Lance impulsively grabs Keith’s hand and announces, “Dibs on Mullet!”

তততততততততততত

When they leave the Castle, the first thing Lance notices is the sky. It’s a million shades of pink and glitters where the clouds reflect light from Nunda’s two suns. The landing area is at the crossroads of a forest, a wide-open grassy plain, and a sheer cliff. The field gives Lance the shivers - something about the lack of any other nature is disturbing. On the other side, the forest feels like it’s calling to him. He takes a step towards it without even realizing, then is stopped suddenly by the weight of Keith’s hand on his shoulder.

“Where are you going?” There’s no malice behind it, only curiosity and a hint of — worry, maybe? Keith has never been the easiest to read. Lance shrugs off the other boy’s hand and lets Shiro take the lead.

Allura beats him to it. Though they’re all standing in the middle of a plain, tall grass swaying, Lance notices that her dress isn’t moving — whether that says something about the planet’s weather or Altean fabrics, he doesn’t know. He tunes back in to hear “...split up. Communication might be spotty so do be careful and use your armor wisely if there’s trouble. Now I wonder, which way should we go?”

Keith flicks his eyes over to Lance, then back, so quickly Lance almost feels like he dreamed it. “We’ll take the forest. Lance’s sharpshooting isn’t useful without cover.” Lance nods in agreement, feet itching to move again and leave this strange grassland behind.

Allura claps her hands together. “Well, glad that’s decided then! If you find the source of the beacon, please send up a smoke signal - we should be able to see it from the plain and the others will be able to see it from the Castle.”

Lance feels a pull somewhere deep inside and stops resisting, letting his feet take him closer to those mysterious trees. “Good luck!” he waves at Shiro and Allura, refusing to say goodbye, then grins wickedly at Keith. “Race ya!”

তততততততততততত

Sunset on Nunda would be a lot more beautiful without all the trees in the way, Lance thinks. He’s never seen a double sunset before, but he can tell it’s happening because it’s getting harder and harder to see anything in the forest. Keith walks silently next to him, which would be eerie if he wasn’t used to it by now.

Lance clears his throat to break the silence, causing the other boy to startle — _his face is redder than usual, maybe that’s just the lighting though?_ — then says, “Hey, it’s getting kinda dark, maybe we should stop here and set up a place to sleep?”

Keith grunts, hiding his expression behind his mane of soft, shiny, mullet-y hair, and replies, “I thought I saw a light up there.” He indicates the direction with a nod, and Lance squints at the shimmer in the distance.

They walk in relative silence until Lance can make out what the source of the glimmer is — and promptly lets out an ear-piercing whoop, running towards it. He turns around, yelling, “They’re golden apples! Keith, holy quiznak, there’s golden apples on this tree!” as he makes a beeline towards the tree. Keith follows behind at a healthy distance, carefully cataloguing the empty space surrounding the tree and the false shine of the apples. 

Lance is already swinging himself onto one of the lower branches when Keith reaches the tree. As cool as it is, he feels a little wary. Being a paladin meant that every moment, no matter how safe it felt, he had to be careful. Keith frowns a little at Lance. “Doesn’t this feel like a trap to you?”

Lance shrugs from his perch. “Yeah, a little, but at least this gives us a place to rest until morning. Maybe we should sleep in shifts though? Just in case.” The other boy nods, his shoulders still tense, and Lance feels a pang of — something — in the pit of his stomach. “I can take the first shift, I’ve still got a lot of energy,” he suggests. Keith relaxes and catches the pack that Lance throws down to him, ready to set up their little camp as the twilight chases them down and washes out the brilliance of the mysterious tree.

তততততততততততত

They change shifts sometime around midnight. Lance tells him that nothing really happened and, while Keith can’t quite believe that, he doesn’t push it. He notices the glassy look in the other boy’s dark eyes and looks away guiltily. They’re a long way from home, after all.

A few hours into his watch, Keith is tired of straining his eyes in the darkness when the light starts to change. It isn’t coming from the east, which set his Earth-centric senses abuzz, but he brushes it off as an alien planet thing. The light gets brighter and brighter until Keith can’t ignore it any more and looks up from the dirt he’d been digging aimlessly in. 

The first thing he notices is that the source of light is a lot smaller than he expected. The second thing he notices is that neither sun is rising, and he scrambles to put the pieces together. When his eyes readjust, he realizes that it’s a bird — a glowing bird, at that. Keith tracks it, bright as fire, as it comes closer and closer, waiting for the right moment…

He leaps, putting every ounce of power he has into it, and stretches his hand up. His timing is almost perfect, enough for his fingers to brush the very tail of the bird and knock loose a few small feathers.

An ear-piercing cry rings out as the bird wheels through the air and leaves in the direction it came from. Lance stumbles out of the tent, his hair beautifully mussed with his hands clamped tight around his ears. “What the heck was that?” he shouts in Keith’s general direction, eyes squinched shut. 

Keith takes a second to catch his breath and let his eyes recover from the blinding light now receding into the unfamiliar treetops. “It was… a bird,” he replies incredulously. “Some sort of… I don’t know, glowing alien bird.” He relaxes a little, letting his fingers unclench and release the golden feathers. 

“Whoa… what are those?” Lance peers closer to get a glimpse. “Did you grab those from the bird?”

Keith nods, face heating at the proximity of the other boy. He’s so close, and when he looks up Keith can see the golden flecks in his ocean-colored eyes, barely inches from his own. He could close the gap between them now, step a little closer, just a little more-

The feathers glow an intense orange, a fire raging in his hand, and Keith drops them like he’s been burned and stumbles backward. Instead of falling to the ground, they float in the air, spinning in unseen currents. Lance reaches out a slender finger and pokes one curiously. It bobs gently, then drifts away toward the edge of the clearing and the start of the trees. Lance follows behind it, entranced, and Keith has to hurry to catch up before he loses the blue paladin in the forest. He’s starting to think there’s more to this planet, and this forest in particular, than he originally thought, and not in a good way. 

Lance turns and calls back to him, “It’s leading us to the bird,” with conviction in his voice. Keith just nods and picks up the pace. The sooner they get out of the forest, the happier he’ll be. As soon as he thinks it, the trees seem to thin and the light in front of them gets brighter and brighter until he can barely see. He gropes blindly for Lance, solid and steady in front of him, and catches his hand without second thought. 

“Is this... okay?” Keith asks softly.

“Of course,” Lance replies, not meeting his eyes.

They step out of the trees together and the light fades back to the brilliance of two suns rising. They’re back on the grassy plain from before. A red-orange falcon, no longer glowing, sits by the thinning grass at the cliff’s edge and bows its head towards them.

_Paladins_ , a voice echoes in their minds. Neither boy gasps, not anymore; the sensation of another voice in their head is almost familiar after so many alien encounters. _I have brought you here to return as one._

“What do you mean?” Keith asks, keeping his voice steady and squeezing Lance’s hand for support.

_Tell him what’s in your heart_ , and this time Lance looks over at him quizzically - this is for Keith, and Keith alone. He swallows nervously. He hadn’t felt ready yet, afraid to ruin their easy friendship for something more, but after the clues he finally puzzled out… he thinks he understands.

“Lance,” he says, voice thick with emotion. “I don’t think I could do any of this without you. I- You’re amazing, and I just didn’t want to make it awkward, but… I really like you.”

Lance smiles back, joy in his eyes. “I really like you too, Keith. I-” Their comms crackle to life; their team is waiting for them to come back. They’ll explain later, when it’s calm again, but for now - “Let’s go, partner.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments <3 And shameless plug, follow me on [Tumblr](https://halfthyme.tumblr.com/) to see what else I'm working on.


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